The Palliative Function of Narrative for Children with End-Stage Cancer and the Psychopoetics of Resilience

Abstract

The present study focuses on the multiple palliative function of narrative in the frame of the palliative care for children with end-stage cancer. Narrative of today can be a useful tool in the psychologist’s hands to meet children’s psychological and spiritual needs, to appease fears and to give clear and honest answers to their anxious   questions facing death and illness.  Narrative is helpful for the support of the whole family and of the caregivers, volunteers and health professionals and a way to encourage the activation of resilience in all these people.  With the basic criteria of the intercultural quality and of the credibility and preciseness we have chosen four stories written by authors who as parents have a personal experience of the loss and illness or have performed a thorough investigation of the subject.  These stories serve as a model to explain the possibilities of the narrative for the support of the little patients and of their parents and caregivers.  For the general public, these narratives can serve as a source of information and familiarization with an innovate interactive biopsychosocial model of care, based on participatory type and useful for all people, patients and caregivers, children and adults alike.